Alhamdulillah I finished reading the explanation of An-Nawawi’s second hadith 🙂 Now we will look at hadith #3 inshaAllah. It covers the five pillars of Islam.

Bismillah. The Arabic, for those of you whom it would benefit 🙂

On the authority of Abu Abdul Rahmaan ‘Abdullah, the son of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab (may Allah be pleased with both of them) who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) say:

“Islam is built upon five [pillars]: testifying that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, establishing the prayers, giving the zakat, making the pilgrimage to the House and fasting the month of Ramadan.”

Recorded by al-Bukhari and Muslim.

Takhreej

Just a quick reminder – takhreej is the study of hadith 🙂

This hadith has been narrated through numerous chains from Ibn ‘Umar. It was recorded by al-Bukhaari, Muslim, Ahmad, al-Nasaai, al-Tirmidhi, a-Baihaqi (in three different works),ibn Khuzaima in his Sahih, ibn Hibbaan in his Sahih, al-Tabaraani in his al-Kabeer and numerous others.

“Islam is built upon Five Pillars”

This hadith is extremely important because it lays down the fundamental aspects of the outward submission to Allah. These aspects are the foundation for the religion as a whole.

The Prophet sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam is giving a parable for Islam as that of a house. The foundation/pillars of the house are five; without them, the house will not exist. Other acts of Islam are complimentary parts to this house, so it can exist without them, but will just have a deficiency.

All five mentioned in the hadith are pillars, but one is more important than the others – the shahaadah (or testimony of faith). It is a foundation for the other foundations 🙂 An analogy the authors give to explain this is that of a house which is a tent of leather or fur. The main pillar or prop us in the middle and the other four are around it. If the middle pillar were to fall and the others remained, the house would be considered to have fallen. But as long as that middle pillar is standing, the house is considered to be existing.

InshaAllah we will look at each of the pillars individually. But first…we will take a quick look at the narrator – ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar.